Seriously, just how fucking stupid are these people?
I’m talking about Congressional Republicans here. Last week (before taking off for a five-week recess) the House of Representatives approved a bill appropriating funds for the Department of Defense. Republican Members of Congress insisted on included this language in the bill:
None of the funds made available under this Act may be distributed to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) or its subsidiaries.
They put similar language in a bill funding the Department of Transportation and the Department of Housing & Urban Development. But that’s not what makes Republicans stupid. What makes them stupid is that they’ve done this more than a dozen times in the last year and a half.
Apparently ate paint chips when they were children
This is how stupid Republicans have become: according to a PPP poll, half of registered Republicans believe ACORN stole the 2012 election for President Obama. Half of them (well, 49%, which is close enough). But wait, it’s even more stupid than that. Here’s what really makes them stupid. ACORN disbanded in 2010.
That’s right, Republicans in Congress are voting — repeatedly voting — to prevent any government funding to go to a group that’s been out of existence for three years. That’s a special kind of stupid. It should be obvious, even to the stupidest of the stupid, that when the hamster is dead, the little wheel stops turning. This hamster’s been dead for three years. When are they going to realize it?
Of course, this is the same Republican Congress that’s voted forty times to repeal the Affordable Care Act. It’s as if they ask themselves “What’s the most pointless thing we can possibly do to avoid governing?” and then they do it. And then they do it again. And again.
I’m reminded of something George Carlin said: “Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.”
We tend to think dogs that snap and bite are aggressive dogs. Mean dogs. Junkyard dogs. Dominant dogs.
Let me quote Gershwin: it ain’t necessarily so. In the dog world there’s a social behavior known as ‘fear-biting.’ It happens when a shy, timid, fearful dog is placed in an unfamiliar or anxiety-producing situation — a situation it doesn’t know how to handle. The dog responds (often even to friendly behavior) by baring its teeth, by lashing out, by biting. Not out of aggression, but out of fear. It’s a panic reaction.
George Zimmerman is a fear-biter. I don’t think he followed Trayvon Martin and killed him simply because Martin was black. I think he followed Martin and killed him because Martin was black and Zimmerman was afraid. I think Zimmerman carried a firearm because he was afraid. I think his fear caused him to respond irrationally to a threat that didn’t exist. And I think there are a lot of George Zimmermans out there.
The United States has become a nation ruled by fear-biters. A lot of our social policies are grounded in fear, and much of that fear is totally unfounded. We’re afraid of terrorists, so we find ways to weasel around the law in order to round up the people we’re afraid of and lock them away forever where we can’t see them. ‘Indefinite detention’ and ‘enhanced interrogation’ are other forms of fear-biting.
We’re afraid of criminals, so we weaken the laws that protect the innocent in the hope we’ll find some security against the guilty. Mandatory minimum sentences and ‘three strikes’ laws and the undermining of Miranda warnings — all forms of fear-biting.
We’re afraid we’re going to be attacked by strangers, so we make it easier to buy guns and to carry guns and to use guns in self-defense without punishment. Concealed Carry laws and Stand Your Ground laws — it’s all fear-biting.
We’re afraid somebody is going to take our stuff, so we live in gated communities and install alarm systems and hire private security firms to patrol our neighborhoods and organize armed volunteers to wander around at night just in case a stranger in a hoodie happens to pass through — nothing but fear-biting.
Conservative politicians are afraid they’ll lose their power when white folks become a numerical minority in the U.S., so they pass laws that make it more difficult for minorities to vote and they create twisted, nightmare-shaped Congressional districts that effectively ghetto-ize minority voters. Voter ID laws and re-districting — just political fear-biting.
Men are afraid of independent women, so they pass arbitrary laws to regulate and limit a woman’s access to health-care and create an entertainment industry that relegates women to sexualized toys and support a culture that tells women to avoid being raped instead of telling men not to rape. Mandatory transvaginal ultrasound laws, ‘slut-shaming’ and hatred of feminists are forms of male fear-biting.
English as the official language — fear-biting. Marriage only between a man and a woman — fear-biting. Anger because somebody says ‘Happy holidays’ instead of ‘Merry Christmas — fear-biting. Aggression against street photographers — fear-biting.
Not all fear is irrational, but irrational fear is the parent of cruelty. And the fact is the citizens of the United States aren’t very much at risk of a terrorist attack. The vast majority of us are in no danger of being victims of violent crimes at the hands of strangers. Having ethnic, racial, or religious minorities in Congress isn’t going to result in a backlash against white Christians. And women who have control over their own reproductive nature aren’t a threat to men.
We don’t have to be afraid of people who aren’t like us. We have nothing to fear from Muslims or gay folks or people who speak another language or black folks or people taking photos in public.
What we need to be afraid of is a society of fear-biters.
It’s July 4th, Independence Day in the United States. This morning, as reported in the Washington Post, ‘President Barack Obama is urging Americans on the Fourth of July to live up to the words of the Declaration of Independence by securing liberty and opportunity for their own children as well as for future generations.’
It’s a fine patriotic sentiment, so (since I was just sitting around drinking my morning coffee) I thought I’d take a peek at what the great American patriots at FreeRepublic.com thought of the president’s remarks. They were, as usual, supportive and thoughtful and loyal to the Commander in Chief.
We ought to be celebrating Egyptian-style.
nobama is such a destructive fool. his resigning today would do the day justice.
he is back in the White Hut as of yesterday or the night before. Most likely the latter. He got his photo op in the situation room discussing what they were going to do about the events in Egypt.
The ‘White Hut.’ And yet I’m pretty sure this guy would be offended if you suggested he might be a tad racist.
As if you know American History or even understand it… even if you were ever exposed to it in Indonesia… you little African marxist fagot.
No comment. 5.56mm
If you’re not familiar with firearms, you may not be aware that 5.56mm refers to the size of the cartridges originally developed for the M16 assault rifle. But no, that wouldn’t be considered any sort of threat, would it. Unless you’re a ‘fagot’ maybe.
Zero has been challenging us since day one. WHY have we NOT insurrected ?
This wouldn’t be the same Declaration that little Mohammed was taught to despise,as a child,by his whore mother and his filthy (white) Communist grandfather,would it?
Yesterday picked up a bunch of $2 bills. My favorite ones. If you don’t already know, it is the one with Jefferson on the front and a depiction of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on the back. His excellency should have a bill with his likeness on the front made…the $3 bill. On the back they can have a depiction of a fag wedding.
The Irish rebellions were always led by poets and philosophers (which, it must be admitted, is one reason their rebellions failed so often). The new American patriot rebellion would be led by people who believe ‘insurrect’ is a word.
doesn’t he realize that he’s making the case that we should appeal to our G.O.D.s [Government Overhaul Device; i.e. guns]?
Only Obama could make the Declaration of Independence sound like a pact with the Devil.
Does Obambi realize that his government is doing exactly the same types of things that England was doing to us back when the Declaration was written?
That’s right, Obama is doing exactly the same things. The British Parliament enacted a series of measures to increase tax revenue from the colonies to pay for a disastrous war, and Obama cut taxes for 97% of the American public and ended one disastrous war. No difference!!! There was absolutely no political representation of American colonists in Parliament, and Obama has to deal with a Republican Congress whose only goal is to obstruct any legislation the president wants passed. It’s exactly the same!!!
Such disgust i have for this Muslim Brotherhood piece of pig slop.
“free to think and worship and live as they please” Uh, no, just ask the Catholics about your birth control mandate.
This would be the mandate that requires private insurance plans to cover women’s preventive health care services, like breast exams and pap smears, maternity care, HPV testing, gestational diabetes screening, breastfeeding support, FDA-approved contraception and contraceptive counseling. Because that totally deprives Catholics of the right to think and worship and live as they please.
“Don’t axe me to read dis Constitushun thang ’cause I can’t read cursive, SIR!”
I really think he WANTS a violent confrontation so bad that he may pull a falseflag before the end. Ask yourself what he would have ever done different if this wasn’t his goal?
Well, of course, it’s perfectly obvious. President Obama is deliberately trying to provoke a violent confrontation with the American public by…by…being the president. And once he instigates this violent confrontation, he’ll…he’ll…have all the white gun-owning Christians put into re-education camps and then ACORN will elect him President of the United States. Again.
I’ve written about Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia before, and labeled him a judicial hypocrite. That hypocrisy was apparent in his opinions on two recent Supreme Court cases.
On Monday, Justice Scalia signed on to the Court’s majority decision to strike down some provisions of the Voting Rights Act. By ‘signed on’ I mean he didn’t write an individual opinion, he simply signed the ruling written by Chief Justice John Roberts. Justices always have the right to write a concurring opinion (if they agree with the majority ruling, but for somewhat different legal reasons) or a dissenting opinion. Signing the majority opinion indicates agreement with the ruling and the legal reasoning underlying it.
Why is that important? Because in overturning sections of the Voting Rights Act, the Court was overruling an act of Congress passed in 1965 and re-authorized in 2006. Justice Scalia apparently had no problem with overturning legislation that’s been in effect for nearly half a century.
This is where the hypocrisy comes in. The very next day Scalia issued an excoriating dissent in the case that overturned elements of the Defense of Marriage Act. In his dissent, Scalia wrote:
“We have no power to decide this case. And even if we did, we have no power under the Constitution to invalidate this democratically adopted legislation […] That is jaw-dropping. It is an assertion of judicial supremacy over the people’s Representatives in Congress and the Executive.”
Got that? On Monday he essentially agreed the Court could assert judicial supremacy over Congress by kicking the Voting Rights Act to the curb. On Tuesday he argued the Court can’t assert that supremacy in regard to DOMA. And he apparently sees no inconsistency in those two positions. That would be shocking in any other Supreme Court Justice, but Scalia has always shown a willingness to ignore his previous judicial positions in order to attain the ideological outcome he believes is ‘correct.’
I dislike Antonin Scalia as a judge and as a person — but there’s no denying he’s a brilliant rhetorician. In his bombastic and vitriolic dissent of the DOMA case, he made one prescient observation. He wrote:
“By formally declaring anyone opposed to same-sex marriage an enemy of human decency, the majority arms well every challenger to a state law restricting marriage to its traditional definition…. No one should be fooled; it is just a matter of listening and waiting for the other shoe.”
And he’s right. He’s an asshole about it, of course. He apparently fails to see any irony when he suggests the people who consider gay folks to be ‘enemies of human decency’ could be labeled the enemies of human decency. But he’s absolutely right. Proponents of marriage equality will challenge the law in every state that denies same-sex couples the ability to marry.
Scalia was equally right a decade ago in his dissent in Lawrence v. Texas, in which the Court struck down the sodomy law of Texas. That effectively invalidated sodomy laws in thirteen other states, thereby making same-sex sexual activity legal throughout the United States. In his dissent in Lawrence, Scalia wrote:
“If moral disapprobation of homosexual conduct is ‘no legitimate state interest’ for purposes of proscribing that conduct … what justification could there possibly be for denying the benefits of marriage to homosexual couples exercising ‘[t]he liberty protected by the Constitution?'”
There you have Justice Antonin Scalia in a nutshell. He believes ‘moral disapprobation’ should be a determining factor in what behaviors are considered legal or illegal. He’s not burdened by consistency in his judicial opinions. He mocks the people who disagree with him. He’s exceedingly intelligent.
And he’s right — about this, at least. What justification could there possibly be for denying the benefits of marriage to homosexual couples? None, Justice Scalia. There’s no justification at all.
This is Barry West. He’s one of the County Commissioners of Coffee County, Tennessee. He’s also an asshole. He may or may not be a racist — I don’t know. But he’s most definitely an asshole.
Coffee County Commissioner Barry West (asshole)
Why do I think he’s an asshole? Because of the photograph below. Let me be clear; Barry West didn’t create that photograph. That’s not him in the photograph. He simply posted the photo on his Facebook page. He’s an asshole because he thinks pointing a firearm at Muslims is amusing.
When a local newspaper asked him if he was prejudiced against Muslims, Barry said “I’m prejudiced against anyone who’s trying to tear down this country, Muslims, Mexicans, anybody.” He didn’t explain why he thinks Muslims and Mexicans are trying to tear down this country, but maybe the reporter didn’t ask him. And really, that doesn’t matter.
Predictably, Barry West caught a HUGE amount of shit from people who found this photo offensive and decided Barry was an asshole. He removed the photo from his Facebook page eventually, but that doesn’t make him any less of an asshole. It just makes him an asshole who’s embarrassed to be recognized as an asshole.
Muslims, of course, were particularly offended. It’s important to remember that a lot of mosques and Islamic centers in Tennessee have been the target of arson and vandalism over the past half decade. Just a couple of years ago in Murfreesboro, Tennessee (in a county that adjoins Coffee County), residents attempted to prevent the construction of a mosque by every means possible, legal and illegal. They tied it up in zoning hearings, they filed frivolous lawsuits, there were numerous incidents of vandalism, and eventually an arson attack on the construction site. All that in a city with 140 Christian churches and only one mosque. So the concern of Tennessee Muslims was understandable.
But here’s the thing about Barry West: he has the perfect right to be an asshole. He has the right to post photographs other folks (including me) see as offensive and racist. I totally defend his right to be an asshole. The Constitution of the United States expressly protects his right to be an asshole and say stupid and offensive things. That’s why I’m talking about Barry West. It’s also why Bill Killian was talking about Barry West.
U.S. Attorney Bill Killian
Bill Killian is the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Tonight he’s speaking at a seminar sponsored by the American Muslim Advisory Council of Tennessee. In recent days, though, Killian spoke to the news media about Barry West and the photo. He said, “We need to educate people about Muslims and their civil rights, and as long as we’re here, they’re going to be protected.” He also said, “If a Muslim had posted ‘How to Wink at a Christian,’ could you imagine what would have happened?” And then Killian added that one of his purposes in addressing the subject was to:
“…to inform the public what federal laws are in effect and what the consequences are.”
And that has set off a conservative shitstorm. A lot of conservative Christians seem to think any statement defending the civil rights of Muslims is somehow a threat against Christian conservatives. Politico.com proclaimed Feds suggest anti-Muslim speech can be punished. Well, no, the Feds didn’t suggest that at all. Breitbart.com says Posting Something Mean About Muslims on Social Media Might Be a Criminal Action Under Federal Civil Rights Laws. Well, no, it’s not a criminal action. GatewayPundit says Obama DOJ: Trashing Islam on Social Media Will Have Legal Repercussions. Well, no, there won’t be any legal repercussions. And my absolute favorite — one conservative blogger, in a post entitled Tomorrow the DOJ Plans to Repeal the First Amendment, wrote this:
Bill Killian, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee will start educating people about the repeal of the First Amendment, only he want call it that… Instead he’s going to tell us if you criticize Murdering Islamic Terrorists, the DOJ might decide you’re violating their Civil Rights.
All this faux outrage (remember, Attorney Killian hasn’t even spoken at the seminar yet) is intended to do three things. First, it’s meant to make bigots feel justified in their bigotry. Second, it’s meant to change the subject from the actual verbal assaults against Muslims to imaginary assaults against bigots. And third, it’s meant to fuel the paranoid delusions of white Christian bigots.
So what did Killian really mean when he mentioned ‘what federal laws are in effect and what the consequences are’? He meant this:
People are free to hate, as long as they don’t act on it. Hateful statements directed at another will be used as evidence in a hate crime.
So Killian was, in effect, saying Barry West is free to be an asshole and say hateful things (and post hateful photographs on Facebook — so long as Facebook allows it), but if he’s ever accused of a hate crime, those hateful things might be used as evidence against him.
Some day I’m going to do some research and try to figure out at what point conservatives became such whiny little crybabies.
If you’re a fan of John Prine, you’re familiar with his song Paradise. If you’re not a fan of John Prine, well damn…what the hell is wrong with you? But if you’re not a fan I’ll educate your sorry ass. Listen to this:
That song is based on actual events. There really was a town in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky called Paradise. You can still find it on Google Maps, though all you’ll see is a coal processing plant in the bend of a chalky river. And in 1962, just as the song says, the Peabody Coal Company did, in fact, bring in the world’s largest shovel to dig for coal. It was a monstrous fucking shovel, as you can see by this old post card.
Be sure to look in the lower right hand corner. Those soft little squishy things? Those are people.That’s how big this shovel is. The scoop could hold 115 cubic yards of…well, of whatever it scooped up, and I suspect it could scoop just about anything it wanted. Peabody Coal named the shovel Big Hog, and just like the song says, they used it to dig for coal until the land was forsaken.
Big Hog was retired from service in the mid-1980s, after twenty-some years of faithful service. Okay, the service was destroying the land — but Big Hog did it faithfully, day after day, week after week, year after year. Peabody Coal honored that service by burying the massive shovel in what’s probably the world’s biggest grave for a machine. They interred the shovel in one of the pits it dug. It’s still there.
If only Peabody treated its human workers with that same respect and dignity.
The Peabody Coal Company is now Peabody Energy, the world’s largest private coal provider. They provide coal to China, Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, and Singapore, as well as the United States. In fact, they generate 10% of the electricity used in the United States and somewhere around 2% of electricity generated throughout the world. Peabody Energy is big. They hold majority interests in twenty-eight surface and underground mining operations.
One of those operations is Patriot Coal. Peabody created Patriot in 2007, giving them around 13% of their coal reserves. That made Patriot a major player in coal. But Peabody also gave Patriot around 40% of their health care liabilities. That’s right, Peabody dumped the health care costs for more that 8,000 men and women who retired from Peabody onto a new company.
You won’t be surprised to know that coal mining is hard work, and coal miners — both those who work on the surface and those who work underground — experience a lot of long-term health problems. Unions for coal workers naturally include health care costs for retirees in the contracts they negotiate with coal providers. By shifting those costs to Patriot Coal, Peabody Energy was no longer responsible for them.
So what does Patriot Coal do? They soon buy Magnum Coal, which was a subsidiary created by the Arch Coal Company — the second-largest mining company. Arch Coal had saddled Magnum with the health care costs of more than 2000 retired Arch coal miners. So by acquiring Magnum, Patriot — a company that’s only five years old — suddenly found itself overwhelmed by health care costs for more than ten thousand workers who never actually worked a day in their lives for Patriot.
Here’s a surprise: Patriot Coal couldn’t afford to pay for the health care needed by all those retirees. As a result, last summer they were forced — forced — to file for bankruptcy to protect the company from all those health care expenses.
Last week, Bankruptcy Judge Kathy Surratt-States ruled Patriot would be allowed to disregard the health care benefits the mine workers had been guaranteed in their contracts with Peabody and Arch. The judge, who was appointed in 2003 by President George W. Bush, acknowledged that Patriot Coal may have actually been “created to fail.” But the transfer of retirement benefits to that company was legal — and some sacrifices have to be made in order for the company to survive. So tough shit, mine workers. In her ruling, she even suggested the mine workers union was partly at fault for “demanding benefits that the employer cannot realistically fund in perpetuity.” As if the union was to blame for management’s decision to sign the contract.
That wasn’t the only recent decision Judge Surratt-States issued in regard to the Patriot Coal Company bankruptcy. About three weeks ago she agreed to allow Patriot to distribute US$6.9 million in bonuses to 225 of their corporate executives and salaried employees.
Mine workers denied the benefits guaranteed them by contract, executives given bonuses, coal companies relieved of the burden of keeping any promises they made — but hey, at least Big Hog got a decent burial. That’s pretty cool.
And daddy won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River, where Paradise lay.
Well, I’m sorry my son, but you’re too late in asking.
Mr. Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away.
Is there anybody more patriotic than Tea Party conservatives? Anybody more supportive of military veterans, more loyal? Is there anybody more true-hearted and flag-waving on this Memorial Day? Let’s ask Bob Dole — war hero, lifelong Republican, former Senate Majority Leader, and one-time presidential candidate.
Yesterday in a television interview on FoxNEWS, Dole stated the Republican Party has changed so radically in recent years that neither he nor Ronald Reagan would be welcome in it. It’s a comment I’ve heard voiced many times.
Senator Bob Dole
A bit of history. Dole joined the U.S. Army in 1942 and served with the 10th Mountain Regiment, which saw heavy combat in Italy during WWII. He was awarded the Bronze Star for trying to save the life of one of his wounded men, and was wounded three times himself. The third wound was devastating — machine gun fire killed two other members of his unit, ripped apart his shoulder, shattered his collarbone and right arm, tore into his vertebrae, and damaged his spinal cord. His men assumed it was fatal. It took Dole 39 months to recover to the degree he has; his right arm remains useless — a lump of emaciated flesh that’s 2 1/2 inches shorter than his left. In 2005, Dole wrote this:
It’s been more than sixty years since I first saw that image in the bathroom mirror. In the past sixty years, I’ve glanced at my full body in a mirror less than half a dozen times. Except to shave and comb my hair, I still avoid looking in mirrors. After showering in the morning, the first thing I do is put on a T-shirt.
Remember, this happened when he was just a kid. Dole was only 19 years old when he was wounded.
Lt. Bob Dole
This guy has served his country in one capacity or another his entire life. Whether you agree with his politics or not, he deserves a certain amount of respect. But after voicing his opinion today, this was the response from the ‘patriots’ of FreeRepublic.com:
Of all people, Dole should keep his mouth shut when advising anyone on election success. The GOP should make a hard and fast rule. After being a Loser, you should not be heard from again until your obituary.
Establishment Republicans like Dole, who believe that there is no greater virtue than compromising stated principles and betraying their supporters, explain a lot about why the country is in the shape it’s in
How the hell does that fossil end up on Fox News Sunday now?
The GOP leadership has more fossils than the Museum of Natural History.
Another buttwad. The simpsons 1996 haloween episode satire of him was spot on. Another useless RINO.
If only they would go away and let us forget them.
Isn’t he dead yet? Why can’t we be spared the wisdom of the losers? Hey Bob, you lost to the only twice elected president NOT to receive a majority popular vote in either of his victories. Why in the name of God would we want your advice?
Bob “Let’s Make A Deal” Dole blabbering incoherently.
What’s the old saying about giving the opposition the rope with which to hang yourself? Bloody Stump Republicans compromising away the foundation of this nation.
“I’m Bob Dole, and Bob Dole knows how to surrender.”
Tedious old a**holes.
His arm isn’t the only thing that wasn’t working
Bob Dole is now and was always a Useless Idiot, though for the Demoncraps he was always a Useful Idiot.
Your Republican Party, ladies and gentlemen, patriots one and all. Something to think about on this Memorial Day.
Yesterday I wrote about storm season, and how much I enjoy seeing the awesome and awful power of severe weather. Today, in Oklahoma, there are men, women and children who died from that awful power. You can’t look at the photographs or hear the stories of the survivors and first responders without being heartsick.
The only thing most of us can do for them is open our wallets and give generously (there’s information on how to donate to the Red Cross at the bottom of this post).
(photo by Brett Deering)
People will say this is not a time for politics. They’re right; it’s a time for governance. But the sad fact is, in recent years effective governance has been fettered by narrow-minded politics. And among the most narrow-minded politicians are the two Republican senators from Oklahoma: James Inhofe and Tom Coburn.
Both senators have repeatedly voted to deny increased funding to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which oversees disaster relief. Coburn said the funding of FEMA would be “unconscionable.” Both senators have also voted against funding disaster aid (or voted to reduce requested aid packages) for various natural calamities that have taken place throughout the U.S.
In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, the governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut requested around US$82 billion in short and long term relief. Both Inhofe and Coburn voted to reduce that to $23.8 billion — the absolute minimal cost to clear the debris, repair basic infrastructure, and rebuild destroyed homes and businesses. They opposed any funds to included long-term infrastructure improvements aimed at helping to prevent damage from future storms. Inhofe referred to the aid request as “a slush fund.”
Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, Republican
The reason these two have given for opposing disaster relief is budgetary. They describe themselves as fiscal hawks. They’re ideologically opposed to spending any government funds that would increase the nation’s deficit.
That might be a more convincing argument if it weren’t for the inconvenient fact that it was Republicans — including Inhofe and Coburn — who helped create that deficit, largely by supporting two wars that weren’t paid for. I suspect most Americans would, if given a choice, have preferred to spend that money on disaster relief than on a pointless war of choice.
Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn, Republican
I suppose some folks will be impressed by Coburn’s response to the disaster in his home state. On his Facebook page, Coburn says:
My thoughts and prayers are with those in Oklahoma affected by the tragic tornado outbreak.
He insists, however, that any federal disaster relief given to his state must be offset by budgetary cuts in other areas. In other words, some other part of the government will have to suffer in order for the people of Coburn’s state to get the financial aid they’re going to need so desperately in the coming days, weeks, and months.
I will continue to pray for the families and individuals who lost a loved one, suffered damage or lost homes and possessions during the storms that tore through Oklahoma and the Midwest yesterday evening. Representatives from FEMA have contacted my office and are ready to respond should Governor Fallin request federal assistance.
You’ll notice he isn’t asking for any federal aid himself. He’ll leave that to others. It should also be noted that people on Facebook aren’t always responding kindly to Inhofe’s and Coburn’s thoughts and prayers.
(photo by Brett Deering)
Disaster assistance used to be a given. When one part of the nation took a hit, Congress automatically authorized the federal government to do what governments are supposed to do: help the people. Everybody in Congress simply put politics aside and did what was necessary to give aid and comfort. It’s just the decent thing to do.
But that’s changed. More and more we’re seeing Republicans taking the Coburn-Inhofe Approach. “I’ve got mine, Jack — you’re on your own.” It’s a selfish, small-minded, mean-spirited approach. But it works. Why? Because we’re not all assholes. Because when a great wind flattens a town in Oklahoma, most of the people of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut will grumble and say “It would serve them right if we fucked them over they fucked us.” But because we’re not all assholes, they’ll grumble and still open their wallets and offer help.
Coburn and Inhofe deserve to be treated like the assholes they are. The people of Oklahoma who voted for those assholes deserve no better treatment. But we’ll help them anyway, and we’ll do it because we’re not all assholes.
You can donate to the Red Cross by calling 1-800-733-2767. You can also donate by going to their website: http://www.redcross.org/ok/oklahoma-city. You can even auto-donate $10 by texting Redcross to 90999.
Donate what you can. Donate because the people of Oklahoma need your help. Donate because they’re not going to get much help from Senators Inhofe and Coburn. Donate because you’re not an asshole.
gregfallis.com 